Congress moves to kill federal methane emissions program
H.R. 313 — Natural Gas Tax Repeal Act · Filed by August Pfluger (R-TX) · 5 cosponsors · Introduced Jan 9, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill repeals Section 136 of the Clean Air Act, which established a methane emissions and waste reduction incentive program for petroleum and natural gas systems. It also cancels any unspent federal funds that were allocated to that program. The primary beneficiary is the natural gas and petroleum industry, which would no longer be subject to this emissions-reduction requirement or incentive structure.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative function is to eliminate a federal emissions-reduction program and rescind its funding. This is a straightforward deregulatory measure that removes an environmental compliance mechanism.
What the text implies
- Rescission of unobligated balances means any federal funds already appropriated but not yet spent on the methane program are cancelled and returned to the general treasury, eliminating future program spending authority.
- Repeal removes both the regulatory requirement and any voluntary incentive structure, meaning operators lose both compliance obligations and potential financial incentives for emissions reduction.
- The bill does not grandfather existing projects or commitments under the program, potentially disrupting ongoing emissions-reduction initiatives mid-stream.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Ordinary citizens lose a federal mechanism designed to reduce methane emissions from natural gas and petroleum systems. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas; eliminating this program removes a tool for climate mitigation and air-quality protection. The primary beneficiary is the natural gas and petroleum industry, which avoids compliance costs and loses incentive obligations.
Who stands to gain
- natural gas producers and distributors
- petroleum extraction and refining companies
- oil and gas operators subject to methane emissions standards
Named in the bill
Clean Air Act, Section 136, EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), natural gas industry, petroleum industry, methane emissions
Where it stands
5 cosponsors: 5 Republicans.
- Jan 9, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jan 9, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
2 lobbying clients named this bill on 4 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $690,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 36 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 41% of bills with at least one filing.
August Pfluger, the sponsor, reported $1,070,325 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Independent Petroleum Association of America — $500,000 on 2 filings
- American Lung Association — $190,000 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (421 characters) on Jun 3, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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